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The Allure of the “Enemies to Lovers” Trope
Hate to love — what makes it so tempting and appealing?
A few days ago, I watched the movie The Hating Game, based off the popular novel by Sally Thorne. The story centers on two coworkers who, following a merger between their two publishing houses, sit across from one another every day and snipe at each other all the while. While I had read the novel prior, I was interested in seeing how the film version would portray the sometimes-problematic realm of “enemies to lovers” and its depiction in media.
First, hear me out: I’m not a hater of the trope. I actually quite like it within most parameters. I’ve gotten onboard with pairings from Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet to Kylo Ren and Rey. If you want built-in conflict for a potential couple in a story, you can make them enemies on opposing sides of an ideological divide.
The Hating Game is, of course, not a speculative work where the stakes are super high. A big promotion is on the line in the story, so the battle of who gets the job is just another sticking point between the main couple at large. While I won’t go into spoilers (a review of the movie is on my never-ending to-write list at the moment), the will-they-won’t-they is the main drive of the plot — and things do get heated on more than one occasion.
